When multiple devices within communications range of one another wirelessly communicate, the signals may be separated in time and/or frequency to allow receiving devices to differentiate individual communications. For example, the available frequencies for communications between two devices may be divided into several channels so that the two devices may transmit data at the same time in different portions of the available frequency range, and the receiving devices can identify an individual communication by filtering out data carried in undesired frequencies of the range. In another example, two devices may communicate in a shared frequency range by specifying various times that are reserved for particular communications, so that a first communication is sent during a first time window (and not during a second time window), and a second communication is sent during a second time window (and not during the first time window), to that a receiving device can identify an individual communication based on an associated time window (also referred to as time multiplexing). However, even when the communications medium has been divided into channels or time divisions, two or more transmissions may collide and interfere with one another at a receiving device due to multi-pathing, carrier signal drift, clock drift, the devices moving within the environment, the addition of new devices to the environment, etc.
As used herein, a collided signal is an analog signal that includes two or more other component analog signals received from a corresponding number of signal sources. A signal collision between the two or more component analog signals (resulting in a collided signal at a receiving device) may occur in a Frequency Division Multiplexed (FDM) environment, a Time Division Multiplexed (TDM) environment, or a Frequency and Time Division Multiplexed (FTDM) environment, when the component analog signals share at least a portion of the same frequency range for at least a portion of the same time window. As opposed to signals that merely interfere with one another, each of the component analog signals that collide to form the collided signal carry a corresponding digital packet of data that is of interest to the receiving device. Stated differently, the collided signal includes two or more packets that the receiving device is expecting to receive, but did not expect to receive in the same time or frequency division. Accordingly, the receiving device attempts to extract all of the packets from the collided signal.
To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one embodiment may be beneficially used in other embodiments without specific recitation.